I'm primarily an English country dance caller, just now getting started
as a contra caller, and am finally admitting that I need a better way to
organize my notes than the box of index cards I've been working with all
these years. There seem to be several options out there.
One is Will Loving's Caller's Companion (http://callerscompanion.com/).
This one was apparently extensively beta tested by folks here on this
list, and from what I hear is a superb organizer for contra, but
apparently not as strong for ECD. One thing I've seen is that the
programming matrix has a maximum of 32 elements. My ECD matrix so far
has about 55 elements (granted, some of those are different flavors of
heys, but they need to be distinguished from each other), and that
doesn't include the contra vocabulary. Will, can that matrix be
expanded? In the "Sets" function, is it possible after a dance to
include a paragraph or three of notes about the event ("Great evening,
but major problems with audibility. Bring own mic next time to be able
to get off stage for demos. Make sure band is extra clear about the
transition from B2 to A1 of Companions. Lots of very happy new dancers.")?
Another is Colin Hume's Dance Organiser
(http://www.colinhume.com/download.htm). This is written in something
called Delphi. I looked at it years ago when I was first getting
started with calling, but haven't researched it recently. Anyone have
experience with it?
Number 3 just came to my attention recently, and it's Ralph Canapa's
program, called The Dancing Master
(http://www.transportedproductions.com/TheDancingMaster/Instructions.pdf),
for iPads. This one requires creating your own data entry protocol,
either scanning existing source material or entering it in a consistent
document style. It does link to iTunes files. I don't currently use an
iPad for calling, due to terror of it going "blip" in the middle of an
evening, but might consider it. I know a lot of callers LOVE their pads.
Of those of you out there _who call both styles_, can you offer any
advice on this subject? So far Will's system seems the most evolved
(based on my somewhat rusty memories of Colin's system). If you use
Caller's Companion _and_ you call English, what limitations have you
encountered, if any? If you use something else entirely, what is it?
Kalia
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2012 16:23:14 -0400
> From: Chrissy Fowler <ktaadn_me(a)hotmail.com>
> To: shared weight <callers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Subject: Re: [Callers] Calling for Absolute Beginners?
> Message-ID: <COL113-W49E48E42FAB0FD6CFEE4528DAA0(a)phx.gbl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>
> How nice to read others' thoughts!
>
> It is my goal at this event to make it so absolutely fun and accessible that the frosh just can't wait for the first 'regular' dance. This year seemed especially successful on that front. But more importantly, everyone had a great time Then And There. Huge smiles, hilarious dancing, wild cheering for the band, folks watching happily and enjoying the music, etc. (It's 'optional' for them to dance, and usually only a fraction of the 500 students choose to dance. Probably 20-35% were dancing at any one time.) If some of that group come to the monthly series and love it, terrific. If others never dance at all during their college years, at least they had a blast at the lobsterbake. Maybe in their 50s they'll end up at a local dance and have this little hardwired memory of a good time doing this thing back 35 yrs ago.
As an observer / participant I'd add a couple of things:
Less talking / More doing. A quick demo and then letting people try out things like swings works well. I've seen some callers doing an awful lot of talking and new dancers get lost and experienced ones space out.
Also emphasize that swinging is horizontal not vertical. I've often noticed beginners bouncing up and down which makes it harder and more tiring - this isn't Irish Set dancing.
When I swing with beginners, I encourage them to just walk, look at me to avoid getting dizzy, and not look at their feet.
Hi Jim,
I'm copying the SW list to save others the hassle of searching. And to point others toward New England Dancing Masters (NEDM)
Flat Tire is in the NEDM books - New England Dancing Masters are a GREAT resource, by the way - books, recordings, overall attitude/perspective. http://www.dancingmasters.com/ Might be in Listen to the Mockingbird.
You could email Peter directly if you want more info (and Peter, if you are lurking, yay for you!) He wrote it with students during a residency in Quechee VT
Flat Tire by Peter Amidon & students
Whole set dance
(16) In whole set oval (take hands in lines and around the end) 'circle' L/R
(16) P dsd, sw
(widely varied) Face up hall, waving hands in the air (over head) count loudly to 3, on the 4 count-yell 'wooh!' as you bump P on hip
All cast off, top couple leading lines around outside of set, top cpl meet at bottom make arch, all others meet P below the arch, duck thru, dance up the set to new progressed place.
I do it every week at two weekly summer dances - unfailingly popular/fun. Also my 4yo requests it by name whenever he's at a dance I'm calling.
Chrissy
> Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2012 17:52:58 -0400
> From: stringtet(a)charter.net
> To: ktaadn_me(a)hotmail.com
> Subject: re: Flat Tire
>
> Hi Chrissy,
> I saw your description of the student orientation on shared_weight. It
> sounds like a lot of fun.
>
> I've been through ten pages of Google search and can't find Flat Tire by
> Peter Amidon listed anywhere. Can you tell me where to find it?
> Thanks,
> Jim McKinney
How nice to read others' thoughts!
This weekend I called a dance at a first year student orientation event (outdoor lobsterbake, dancing on grass). A folk group at the college has a monthly contradance series, and they sponsor this orientation dance as a way to introduce frosh to the possibilities. They usually have a few sophomores, jrs and srs from the club attend the dance (to inspire and encourage.)
It is my goal at this event to make it so absolutely fun and accessible that the frosh just can't wait for the first 'regular' dance. This year seemed especially successful on that front. But more importantly, everyone had a great time Then And There. Huge smiles, hilarious dancing, wild cheering for the band, folks watching happily and enjoying the music, etc. (It's 'optional' for them to dance, and usually only a fraction of the 500 students choose to dance. Probably 20-35% were dancing at any one time.) If some of that group come to the monthly series and love it, terrific. If others never dance at all during their college years, at least they had a blast at the lobsterbake. Maybe in their 50s they'll end up at a local dance and have this little hardwired memory of a good time doing this thing back 35 yrs ago.
Anyhow...
Program:
Galopede variant
(keep your partner)
short version of a Grand March with the "arches/tunnels" figures (started by weaving thru the seated groups of not-yet-dancing frosh, current partners splitting up and picking up new folks on the way)
immediately segued into La Bastringue variant (a partner keeper)
(you can keep this P fpr next dance, or better yet you and your P find two others who want to dance)
Heel & Toe Polka (mixer)
(surely during the last dance you found someone you'd like to dance with for the next one, go ask them to dance)
Haste to the Wedding variant (sicilian circle, start in circle then did couple face couple starting in front of stage)
Flat Tire by Peter Amidon & students in Quechee VT
I told them they can dance with anyone they want (same/different gender, age, dorm, etc)
Taught these figures thusly with demos from stage:
swing - many ways to swing, can do two hand turn or ballroom position, or others.
allemande - a hand turn we call 'allemande', can do elbow down/thumb up like this
do-si-do - this is a no touching figure, look (p/n) in the eye, smile it's social dance, you walk around your (p/n) end up where you started, face (p/n) pass by r shoulder slide a bit to right, back up to place. great! you just did a do-si-do. now that you know what it is, do it again.
promenade -many ways to do it, hold hands, arm around shoulders, two hands held right in r and left in l - standing beside p, both turn together and face ccw around circle, this is prom dir, walk.
star - this figure has same footwork as circle, different handwork, all put rh into center, can make a pile of rh, or there are fancy ways to do it, but whatever you do, jam that hand into the center, hopefully it's the correct right hand, and start walking to turn the star, eight counts, 5-6-put your left hand in
down center - top couple has 16 musical counts to get down to the bottom of the set. the call is to sashay, take two hands with p, do sliding step like this, but you can do whatever you want in your 16 counts...within reason.
Did I care that people were doing handshake allemandes? elbow swings? lurching promenades? Not really.
Will I teach some of the finer points when I call again at the series? Yes.
Gender roles, lady on right, 8 count phrases, how to swing gloriously, hold yourself up (support your own weight), safe allemandes, connected circles with nice amt of tension in biceps, be ready at the top of the phrase, all TOGETHER go forward & back...
Were the dances simple? Yes. Did I call at least some part of the sequence all the way thru every dance? Yes. Did any of the "dancers" in the group seem to care about either of these things? No. Not even the first year student who is a dance gypsy and accomplished caller. She was grinning from ear to ear. (In my experience, it's more likely that a certain subset of "dancers" will scoff at simple dances than will newbies, but fortunately not all "dancers" are of that mindset.)
And I find leading dances for complete beginners a total blast. Definitely exciting and worth my time. :)
Chrissy Fowler,
Belfast, ME
PS Before the dance, the senior who is now leader of the folk group mentioned that when she was a first year student, it was this very orientation dance that made her want to contradance. She saw the then leaders of the folk group dancing and swinging so happily, thought "I want to do THAT, and I want to be friends with THEM." And so it was.
> The first: I'm curious how you all put together programs when calling for a
> group of complete beginners. What's generally the progression of moves that
> you teach? Do you think dances with the most basic of moves (say, a dance
> that's all circles, stars, and long lines, not even a partner swing) are
> helpful in getting people oriented to dancing, or are trivial and boring
> and will make people think contra is dumb? (People "thinking contra is
> dumb" is actually a bit more of a concern for me calling college dances,
> where most of the folks to turn out aren't necessarily of the 'contra
> mindset' and so it's important to hold their interest and make them think
> that what they're doing is exciting and worth their time--they're not
> necessarily going to stick with it for the evening, or even for more than
> one dance, if they're not immediately into it.)
>
> The second, which ties into the first: how do you teach good contra
> etiquette--*especially* how to swing properly--when you don't have
> experienced people in the crowd to show the way?
(...)
Hi Maia,
Use simple dances with great music and build the move repertoire
slowly. I use Circle Mixers to teach basic moves, then contra dances
like Jefferson & Liberty, Family Contra, Flirtation Reel and New Age
Petronella - these are great examples of dances which have a easy
progressions.
Use great music at 120bpm so that there is lots of energy.
See http://www.contrafusion.co.uk/Contra.html#swinging for an
article on how to teach swinging.
Here is a simple circle mixer that is mainly for practice at swinging
and ending with the man on the left, lady on the right:
The Exchange Swing (by John Sweeney)
Circle Mixer
A1: Into the Middle & Back; Neighbour Swing (= New Partner)
A2: Circle Left; Circle Right
B1: Partner Allemande Right; Partner Allemande Left
B2: Partner Gypsy Meltdown
Another easy one for first-timers:
Virginia Reel Circle Mixer #24
Circle, Men on inside facing out
A1: Partner Allemande Right
Partner Allemande Left
A2: Partner Dosido
Partner Seesaw (Left Shoulder Dosido)
B1: Partner Gypsy Meltdown (Right Shoulder Gypsy into a Swing)
B2: Promenade around the circle
Men move on then face new partner
Happy dancing,
John
John Sweeney, Dancer, England john(a)modernjive.com 01233 625 362 &
07802 940 574
http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
(I used to be annoyed by the Petronella clap, but given that I now
rarely hear the whole hall hit a balance at the same time, I'm happy to
hear everybody in the room synched precisely up on *something*, ...)
-- Alan
Did anyone else snort with laughter at this? Is it a math deficiency? Are people too busy using their smartphones? Is it anarchy? Whatever it is, thanks Alan - you gave me a good chuckle.
Chrissy Fowler
Belfast ME
I was calling for the Bay Area Queer Contra series last night, at their
season-opener dance in Oakland, and they are both blessed and challenged
by having a huge group of beginners at almost every dance. They're
enthusiastic and ready to have a good time, but need a lot of guidance
and fairly simple material. I was noticing last night (and I'm a newish
caller with a small stock of dances still, but working on fixing that)
that a large percentage of the easier dances all feature either long
lines forward and back, or lines of 4 down the hall, or both. This
makes it a challenge to keep variety in the program.
When you're calling for an inexperienced group, do you still try to
limit the number of LL F&B and 4-in-line dances, or do you not worry
about it so much? There are just enough experienced dancers in this
particular community that I was trying to keep the program varied for
them, while still trying to keep it really accessible to the new
dancers. Had it been a completely brand-new crowd I would have felt
fine with a lot more repetition of figures from dance to dance, to
increase the comfort and familiarity of the material. But as it was, I
was stuck in that middle place, trying to satisfy a wide range of
experience levels. The eternal challenge...
Kalia
I just noticed that these two dances, Unruly Reunion by Robert Cromartie
and Monterey Detour by Bob Dalsemer, are identical. I don't know if
I've picked up modified versions, or if they're simply examples of
parallel evolution.
There must be other known cases of identical dances with different
names. Anyone know a few? It happens in English occasionally as well
(Take a Dance and Ore Boggy being the most well-known).
Kalia
I'm still gaining basic experience calling and have been noodling for a few
minutes on this - thought I'd seek others' expertise and experience...
I'm looking at my program candidates for an upcoming dance and in reviewing
the dance *Seagull* by Erik Weberg (which can be found at
http://www.kluberg.com/eriksdances.html#Seagull) I started thinking it
would be easier to start the teaching at some other point than the A1, due
to having to set up the initial short waves (which otherwise naturally form
out of the B2). And noticing that the dance ends with a G Allem. Lt. 1+1/2,
I started thinking it might be best to start with the B1, which is a very
conventional Cir. Lt. 3/4 and Pass Thru..., which would leave the dance
ending at the existing A2, finishing with a more satisfying P Swing.
Ok, so this has two implications I see right away:
1. the band's music selection may change
2. the progression moves from the B1 original to the A1 as reshuffled.
Are there any untoward consequences I'm missing? Why would this not be the
default sequence?
Thanks,
Don
Hi Luke,
It is years since I have done any science but I remember tree diagrams like
you are referring to that grouped things by degrees of similarity. What I
remember is that it was possible to do so without specifying grouping
criteria in advance. It was a challenge to determine what these axes meant
however. The idea that this could become the basis for classifying or
grouping dances could certainely be an interesting aid to programing. I no
longer remember how to do this or have software that would work under modern
operating systems. Do you?
Rickey
-----Original Message-----
From: callers-bounces(a)sharedweight.net
[mailto:callers-bounces@sharedweight.net] On Behalf Of Luke Donforth
Sent: Saturday, September 01, 2012 8:33 AM
To: Caller's discussion list
Subject: Re: [Callers] Unruly Reunion/Monterey Detour
Old Time Elixer #2 by Linda Leslie and Tica Tica Timing by Dean Snipes are
darn close, the difference being a right and left through versus a promenade
across. (They're both fabulously fun petronella dances).
As for choreographers slipping up and writing their own dance twice, it
wouldn't surprise me, but it also may be that they changed the name when
they found something that suited better. I personally find naming dances
harder than writing them.
I know I've re-created dances that already existed; although it can be hard
to say if I'm writing them myself, or pulling them out of my dance memory,
It'd be fun to see a cladistic taxonomy of contra dances (and related
forms), showing the similarities and differences; be they regional,
composer, historic, or otherwise. I don't remember which caller, but someone
broke contra dances in to primarily 1 swing and 2 swing dances (with some
others), and then branches 2 swing dances into dances where the swings are
in adjacent phrases (ex A2 & B1) or non-adjacent. That type of tree system
could be the basis for basis for classifying dances and keeping track of how
close your dances are to others (you'd still need a database of existing
dances to compare to).
On Sat, Sep 1, 2012 at 2:59 AM, Chris Page <chriscpage(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 31, 2012 at 7:04 PM, Linda Leslie
> <laleslierjg(a)comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
> > Tenth Year in Tommerup (Linda Leslie). Same dance by Greg Frock
> > called Hopping Tiger, Baby Squirrel. I have not had the opportunity
> > to talk with Greg about who might have written the dance at an earlier
date.
> >
> > I know I have run across a few others, but have not kept tract of them.
> > Linda
> >
>
> And they're both idential to "Practice Petronella" by Tom Lehmann.
>
> I've written several dances that other people have written or wrote later.
>
> There's numerous duplication if you look close. I've even run across a
> few cases of callers accidentally duplicating their own dance,
> publishing two different names with the exact same moves.
>
> -Chris Page
> San Diego
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--
Luke Donforth
Luke.Donforth(a)gmail.com <Luke.Donev(a)gmail.com> www.lukedonev.com
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